Gate.



1. B. F. SHOWALTER.

GATE.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 9, 1916.

Patented July 17, 1917.

- residing at Lomax, in the county of Hon,

all

litl

JAY BENJAMIN IEJRANKLIN' SHUWAL'LEB, 01E LOMILK, ILLINOIS.

GATE.

Application filed october 9, 191a.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that 1, Jay E. F. tinowanrnn,

dcrson and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful (late, of which the following is a specification.

This invention more particularly has reference to farm or roadway gates and primarily has for its nirpose to provide an improved form of gate of the general type stated, of a strong, durable and relatively light construction, including a special, de sign of bracing elements that provide for withstanding such jars or weights that road" way gates are usually subjected to.

Another object of my invention is to pro-.

vidc, in a farm gate construction of wood or metal, or a combination of both, in which is included an improved system. of bracing, so distributed that the body bracing means is divided into sections, each brace in the same, or in opposite directions, and each, While forming an independent bracing section, being correlatively so arranged'to form a perfect whole for effectively equalizing such strains, jars or weights, that might he suddenly applied against the gate by stock jumping on to it or from other causes.

gain, my invention in its more complete nature, embodies an improved construction of arts composed of Wood or metal, or both, and including an improved system of bracingthat divides it into a plurality of indie pendent bracing sections, each being a complete independent system of bracing, and the several sections so combined. whereby they form a continuous bracing system that makes the sagging of the gate practically impossible and prevents it from breaking down from such jars, strains or Weights to which roadway gates are usually subjected With other objects in view that will hereinafter appear, my invention consists in the peculiar construction and novel combination of the parts to be hereinafter explained, specifically pointed out in the appended claims and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure l is a perspective view that illustrates a perfect form of my improved gate, and in this form, the bracing elements are shown one set applied to each side of the gate. a

Fig. 2 is a cross section thereof taken on the line 2-2 on Fig. 1. v I

Fig. 3 is a side elevation that shows a specification. cl? Letters Patent.

Serial no. mantel modified form of my improved gate herein after particularly referred to, and

Fig. 4 is a side elevation of another modification of my improved gate hereinafter also explaine In carrying out my invention, the gate body includes the usual horizontal rails l, which may be of wood or metal, and these are joined by a series of vertical brace bars 2, preferably metal, either flat or angle iron.

Each pair of brace bars 2 divide the gate body into sections and, in the preferred form, as shown in Fig 1, the gate body is illustrated as divided off into three sections.

Each of the sections is braced'by a diagonal brace bar 3 which may be wood or a flat or angle iron bar and, the said independent diagonal brace bar 3, has its upper end secured at the upper end of one of the vertical bars 2 and ireferably located between the said bar 2 and the upper rail 1, its lower end being similarly connected to the lower end of the next adjacent vertical brace bar 2 and the lowermost rail, the several brace bars and the rail being secured by bolt and nut connections indicated by l and 5 in big. 2, so that any of the rails or boards that may become broken or worn out may be readily removed and a new board or rail substituted therefor,

6 designates a master brace bar of fiat or angle metal, and the said bar, hereinafter termed the gate diagonal, extends the full length of the gate body from the lower end of the vertical brace bar at one end to the top of the vertical brace bar at the other end and in crossing from one end of the gate body to the other, the said bar 6, is preferably securcd at its upper and lower ends between the end brace bars 2 and the upper and lower rails, passed under the intermediate brace bars 2 and over the individual diagonal brace bars 33, the said diagonal .brace bar 6 being secured at points between its ends by the bolt and nut connections, as shown.

By reason of arranging the brace bars in connection with the rails 1, as shown and described, each of the brace sections, con tains, as it were, three rigl'itangle bracings and two acute angle bracings, the right angle bracing portions being one, so, at the top; one, 3 at the bottom; and one, a, at the bottom between the upright bars 2 and the gate diagonal 6, it being also apparent from the drawings that the several sections constituting the gate body as a whole, are provided with supplemental right angle bracings, one a at the top by the brace bars 2 and the diagonal 6, and at the bottom 6 between the said bars 2 and the aforesaid diagonal 6.

While I prefer to form my improved gate as shown in Fig. 1, since the form shown in the said figure is the strongest and most complete form of my improved gate structure, the bracing elements on one side of the rails maybe omitted.

Fig. 2 shows substantially the same construction of the gate shown in Fig. 1 except that the bracing is on one side and only two independent bracing sections is provided and Fig. 4 shows a structure similar to Fig;

3 but further modified, since-only one independent brace section is employed.

'From the" foregoing description taken in connection with the drawings, the complete construction and'the; advantages of my invention will be readlly apparent.

.By reason ofconstructing'the gate with the bracing elements arranged to divide, as it were, the bracing system into three distinct sections, each in itself embodying a complete bracing system and all of the system sections cooperatively combined as shown anddescribed, ,a system of bracing in gate structures of the general character stated is developed, on either one of both sides of the gate, that may form a perfect whole by continuing the bracing into and through each separate section, or be discontinued without efiecting the support for the last or remaining ones of the several system sections.-

One essential advantage attained in my improved gate structure is, that with the bracing system extended through the entire length of the gate, the same forms a positively rigid gate of great strength and,

since the bracing is composed of systemsof rightangled and acute angled bracing, rein- 1 throughout the entire forced by a cooperating dia onal bracing I ate, fie gate structure 1s such that it will efiectively withstand all strain incident in the use of farm or roadway gates What I claim is: 1. A gate comprising a series of horizontal rails, vertical end braces connecting the rails, at least one intermediate vertical brace connecting the rails whereby the gate body is formed into a plurality of sections, a diagonal brace connecting the rails and extending from one extremity of an end brace to the diagonally opposite extremity of the next ad acent intermediate brace, and a master diagonal brace extending from one corner of the gate as a whole to the diagonally opposite corner of the gate as a whole, said master diagonal brace being secured to said horizontal rails and to said first mentioned diagonal brace, substantially as shown and described.

2. A gate comprising a series of horizontal rails, bracing elements mounted on one or opposite sides of the said rails, the bracing elements on the opposite sides being of like structure and each comprising vertical braces at the ends of the rails, at least one other vertical brace located between the vertical braces at the ends whereby the body of the gate is divided into independentbracing sections, a diagonal brace bar for each of said bracin sections connected at the opposite ends to t eopposite adjacent vertical brace bars and a sup lemental diagonal brace barthat extends t e full length ,Jlr runners raArKmN sHOWA TER. 

